The present invention relates to an electrical connector and more particularly, it relates to a connector having a cover which is capable of closing connection portions of respective terminals to be connected with terminal sections of a printed board or the likes.
In the prior art, Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication (KoKai) No. 5-36778 discloses a connector which is similar to the above-mentioned connector. This connector, which is provided for connecting respective terminals of wires to terminal sections in a printed board, comprises a housing, a cover and a retainer. The housing is provided with terminal-accommodating chambers into which a plurality of terminal are respectively accommodated. In each terminal-accommodating chamber, a flexible engagement arm is formed to project from an inside wall of the chamber. By respective engagements of the flexible engagement arms with the terminals, it is possible to prevent the terminals from slipping out of the terminal-accommodating chambers. The terminal-accommodating chamber include a part which is opened outwardly and through which a contact portion of the terminal is exposed to an outside to come into contact with the terminal section in the printed board. This opened part of the terminal-accommodating chamber is adapted to be closed by the cover.
The cover, which is shaped to be a plate, is movably supported in guide grooves formed at both sides of the housing. That is, the cover can slide between a "closed" position where the opened part of the chamber is closed and another "opened" position where the opened part of the chamber is opened.
In connecting the terminal sections of the printed board with the contact portions of the terminal, the cover is shifted to the opened position. On the other hand, under condition of connecting the terminal sections of the printed board with the contact portions of the terminal, the cover is moved to the closed position thereby to protect the terminal.
The retainer includes a flexible plate and a plurality of convex portions which are formed on the flexible plate so as to abut on rear ends of the terminals in the terminal-accommodating chamber thereby to prevent the terminals from slipping out. The retainer is mounted on the housing so as to occupy both its temporary engagement position and its formal engagement position. Under condition that the retainer occupies the temporary engagement position, the convex portions of the retainer do not abut on the rear ends of the terminals thereby to restrict the movement of the cover from the above-mentioned closed position to the opened position. On the contrary, in the formal engagement position, the convex portions are brought into contact with the rear ends of the terminals and the front part of the cover thereby to enable the cover to move from the closed position to the opened position.
In this connector, when the terminal is not inserted into the terminal-accommodating chamber sufficiently (the "semi-inserting" condition), it is impossible to move the retainer from the temporary engagement position to the formal engagement position since the convex portions interfere with an upper part of the terminal. Since such a condition makes it impossible to shift the cover to the opened position, it allows an operator to detect the terminal in the semi-inserting condition. Consequently, it excludes a forced connection of the terminal in the semi-inserting condition with the terminal sections of the printed board.
Under condition that the terminal is accommodated in the terminal-accommodating chamber in the semi-inserting condition, however, if forcing the retainer to shift from the temporary engagement position to the formal engagement position by force, there would be raised a problem that the retainer is deformed to move to the formal position because of its flexible structure thereby causing the cover to be shifted from the closed position to the opened position.
That is, when moving the retainer from the temporary engagement position to the formal engagement position and if the terminal metal is accommodated in the terminal-accommodating chamber in the semi-inserting condition, the detecting projection would interfere with an upper part of the terminal metal, it is impossible to move the retainer to the formal engagement position, primarily. However, since the detection plate of the retainer is shaped to be flat in the conventional connector, if depressing the retainer to the formal engagement position, the detection plate can be deformed in an arc, so that it is attached to the formal engagement position.
Thus, since an area where the retainer abuts on the cover is reduced and the cover is easy deflectable for its plate-configuration, it allows the cover to be moved to the opened position. Consequently, the terminal metal would be brought into a condition that enables it to be connected with the terminal section of the board in spite that the terminal metal is in the semi-inserting condition. That is, in the above-mentioned conventional connector, it has been impossible for an operator to find that the inserted terminal metal is now in the semi-inserting condition, securely.